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Brown v. Board of Education
Brown vs. Board of Education was the landmark case that resulted in desegregation of public schools. Linda Brown was a little African American girl attending third grade at public school in Topeka, Kansas, in 1951. She lived a few blocks from a White elementary school, but when her father attempted to enroll her in the neighborhood school, his request was denied. Linda Brown ended up traveling about a mile every day to get to the nearest Black elementary school. -
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Civil Rights Protest
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott officially started on December 1, 1955. That was the day when the blacks of Montgomery, Alabama, decided that they would boycott the city buses until they could sit anywhere they wanted, instead of being relegated to the back when a white boarded. -
Woolworth's Sit -In
On February 1, 1960, four African American college students sat down at a lunch counter at Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina, and politely asked for service. Their request was refused. When asked to leave, they remained in their seats. Their passive resistance and peaceful sit-down demand helped ignite a youth-led movement to challenge racial inequality throughout the South. -
Freedom Rides
The first Freedom Ride departed Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961. Thirteen freedom riders, both African Americans and white Americans, boarded two interstate buses heading south. At first the group encountered only minor conflicts. In Atlanta the two buses split up and headed for the Deep South. There the trip turned dangerous. -
Birmingham Children's March and Boycott
The Children's Crusade was the name bestowed upon a march by hundreds of school students in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 2, May 3, and May 4, 1963, during the American Civil Rights Movement's Birmingham Campaign. Initiated and organized by Rev. James Bevel, the purpose of the march was to walk downtown to talk to the mayor about segregation in their city. Many children left their schools in order to be arrested, set free, and then to get arrested again the next day. -
March on Washington
In 1963 leaders of the civil rights movement decided to organize what became known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Bayard Rustin was given overall control of the march and he managed to persuade the leaders of all the various civil rights groups to participate in the planned protest meeting at the Lincoln Memorial. -
Selma to Montgomery March
On 25 March 1965, Martin Luther King led thousands of nonviolent demonstrators to the steps of the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, after a 5-day, 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama, where local African Americans, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) had been campaigning for voting rights.